Alice, I know that several people on the list are searching for the parents of Manassah, and I have also been keeping an eye out for him. I have not placed him yet. He was not a son of Ephraim Washburn and Mary Polden/Polland, as first thought. The division of the estate of Ephraim Washburn pretty clearly identifies all his children. Japheth was one of them, but Manassah was not. In the 1790 census Manassah was still living in Middleborough, MA. The closest Washburn family was that of Thomas Washburn, a few houses away. Other close neighbors were Samuel Benson, David Vaughn Jr., Isaac Benson, Ezra Harris, John Holmes, Church Holmes and Jacob Shaw. If he were adopted or illegitimate chances are his name would have appeared in court records and it would have probably been noticed by now, but that is still a possibility. Illegitimacy cases sometimes did not name the child, so we're left wondering. I found no deeds where Manassah sold land in Middleborough before his move up to Maine, which was disappointing, but there is a possibility that a deed of someone else will give a clue as to the father of Manassah. I have not found it yet. John A. Maltby Redwood City, CA jamaltby@creative.net At 11:54 AM 7/15/2000 EDT, you wrote: >Hi John, >Many thanks for all your excellent scholarship on the WASHBURN lines. Do you >suppose that Manassah WASHBURN could have been from this family? Anne >Raymond and I have been looking but not found his parents anywhere. We think >his father was named Ephraim but only because his first son was so named. >Could he have been adopted or an illegitimate son -- what would be the proof >in such a situation? Any thoughts? > >Again many thanks for all your fine work. >Alice Gordon > > John A. Maltby Redwood City, CA jamaltby@creative.net